Wealthy Foreigners Are Setting Miami's Real Estate Market On Fire

Miami's real estate market is not in a bubble, according to
Douglas Elliman real estate agent
Oren Alexander.

Instead, it's on the rise, and sits on a solid foundation of
cash, he said.

The numbers are proof: home prices were up 21.4 percent in the
third quarter and rose 11.6 percent in the past year,
according to Miami's Downtown Development Authority.

"Miami has made quite the surge in the past six months," said
Alexander, who recently sold a $47 million property in Indian
Creek, the most expensive home ever sold in the area. "It's a
market, on the high end, driven by foreigner buyers, and what's
going on abroad is helping Miami's resurgence."

Alexander said he had seen an influx of Argentine citizens
looking to make investments in the Miami market since Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner's re-election last year.

Venezuelan and Russian buyers are also flocking to Miami for
investment properties. Russians spent more than $1 billion on
overseas real estate last year, and Florida is especially popular
destination, loved for its warm weather, private mansions, and
limited disclosure requirements, according to CNBC's Robert
Frank.

"I think right now we’re seeing the luxury market like it's never
been before," said Jill Eber, one half of the Miami real estate
duo known as
The Jills and a 25-year veteran of the Miami market. "I've
never seen prices like we’ve seen this past year. We had the
record sale in the history of Dade County and in Ft. Lauderdale,
for $47 million."

Eber said most of the deals she sees are done in cash, but with
mortgage rates so low, some high-end buyers are taking them out
so they can remain liquid.

She also said she's seen an increase in the market for high-end
condos, and that prices for those properties were hitting new
highs. The Jills currently hold the record for the most expensive
condo in the city, which sold for $25 million.